Phonological Awareness Level 3
At this level of phonological awareness a child knows the basics of blending and segmenting. Now it is time to move on into more difficult words. This includes blends (fr in frog or st in must), digraphs (th, sh, ch), diphthongs (vowel combinations such as ai, oa, oy, etc.). Also, children at this level are ready to learn some strategies for approaching words with more than one syllable. Order of sounds is again very important. At this level, phonics is taught nearly at the same time as the phonological skills.
Following is a list of skills for Level 3 with sub-skills listed for each. A good goal is for children to master these skills before entering second grade.
Individual Phonemes
Blending- Segmenting
- Order
Phoneme Manipulation
- Changing order
- Substitution
Blends, Digraphs, Diphthongs
- Syllables
- Segmenting
Multi-syllabic Words
- Syllables
- Blending and segmenting syllables in multi-syllabic words
- Order
Ideas for developing these skills:
- It is difficult for children to hear the individual sounds in blends. They will often substitute something else for the blend. Model many times how to break blends apart.
- Directly teach digraphs and diphthongs. Practice hearing these sounds, then teach what letters make each.
- Model how to break a simple word into individual sounds. Do this many times.
- For multi-syllabic words, teach your child to first break the word apart into syllables, then listen for the sounds in each syllable.
You will find more information about phonological and phonemic awareness on our level 1 and level 2 pages.
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